Phones will become entertainment devices — Orange

CANNES: This year will witness the transformation of mobile handsets into genuine entertainment devices, France Telcom's wireless unit Orange predicted.

"Entertainment is the big thing in 2005," Orange Chief Executive Sanjiv Ahuja said on the fringes of 3GSM, the world's biggest communications trade fair in Cannes.

He said entertainment features on mobile phones such as high-quality music, video clips and live television would drive demand for third generation (3G) mobile services.

"This device (the mobile phone) is transitioning from being a communications device to an entertainment device," Ahuja added. "There will be a rapid evolution."

Orange, fighting tough competition to retain its technological edge, has spent more than 7 billion euros ($9.08 billion) on licences for high-speed 3G services in the UK and France. It launched 3G in the two countries in December after much delay and after rivals Vodafone in Britain and France's SFR launched theirs.

Orange is hoping its new 3G offering will attract between 1.5 million to 2 million subscribers in Britain by 2007 but has declined to provide target figures for France.

Ahuja's comments came as Orange announced in Cannes it would launch a new data chip in Britain that allows mobile phone users to move seamlessly between wireless and fixed networks and which integrates Internet, wireless and fixed communications.

At home, mobile phones fitted with the new data card will connect through Wi-Fi (wireless high-speed Internet accessible without a fixed phone line). Outside the home, the card will be connected to Orange's second generation and 3G networks.

Orange did not say when it would introduce the new data card in France and did not provide a concrete sales target for the card in Britain.

Separately, Orange said it would launch mobile phones fitted for 3G networks and EDGE networks (which enable a slower transfer of data than 3G) before the end of the year in France.

Orange was the last operator of the Freemove alliance, which includes Germany's T-Mobile, Spain's Telefonica Moviles and Italy's TIM to bring 3G phones to home markets.

Looking forward, Orange said it had started testing the next generation network technology after 3G, called HSDPA, in France and Britain.